Northborough man sentenced on child porn charges

A Northborough man pleaded guilty this morning in Worcester Superior Court to possession and distribution of child pornography, cringing as prosecutors read the disturbing details of what police found in his room.

By Brad Petrishen/Daily News staff

MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

By Brad Petrishen/Daily News staff

Posted Jun. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 20, 2013 at 8:16 PM

By Brad Petrishen/Daily News staff

Posted Jun. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 20, 2013 at 8:16 PM

WORCESTER

» Social News

A Northborough man was sentenced to serve 60 days of an 18-month jail sentence Thursday after pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography.

Joshua E. Lundberg, 29, will spend the next 60 days in the House of Correction. The balance of his sentence will be suspended for two years, and he will be on probation for the next 10 years.

Lundberg, a former tennis instructor in Westborough, grimaced as a prosecutor described what state police found inside his room at his parents’ home at 19 Cold Harbor Drive during a Feb. 2, 2012 warrant search.

Prosecutor Tracy Kennedy said police found pornographic images of children "of all ages and both genders" on two laptop computers.

In one of the videos found, a man performs a sexual act on a girl between 4 and 6 years old, Kennedy said, holding the child down as she screams, "No, no, stop."

Lundberg admitted to police that he downloaded and shared the material online, Kennedy said, telling them that he "was actually expecting to someday face charges."

Arguing against jail time, Lundberg’s attorney Louis Aloise told Judge Janet Kenton-Walker that Lundberg suffers from severe depression, anxiety disorder and a learning disability that isolated him from others while he attended Roger Williams University.

Aloise said Lundberg "began to immerse himself in the computer" at the school, smoking marijuana heavily and obsessively playing a video game for hours upon end. Aloise said he believes both the game and the drug use influenced Lundberg’s actions.

Aloise told the Daily News the game Lundberg was "World of Warcraft," a popular online role-playing game.

"It provided the portal for being dependent upon the computer for his entire social interaction," Aloise said.

Aloise told Kenton-Walker Lundberg has been making strides to turn his life around while living at home on house arrest with his parents, enrolling at Worcester State University and undergoing therapy.

"He now realizes that this is not a victimless crime," Aloise said.

"I just can’t express how terrible I feel about what I did," Lundberg told Kenton-Walker.

Kennedy argued for three to four years in prison and 10 years of probation, saying that the state has evidence that Lundberg might be prone to taking his interest in young children "to the next level."

Police found a toddler-sized doll in Lundberg’s room that looked as though it could have been used for sexual purposes, Kennedy said. She said Lundberg also admitted to police that he had exposed himself to a 20-month-old child.

Lundberg, charged with three counts of possession of child pornography and one count of dissemination of child pornography, faced a maximum of 35 years in prison.

In settling on the 18-month sentence and 10-year probation term, Kenton-Walker said she balanced family letters of support, reports from doctors and the fact that Lundberg had no prior criminal history.

Page 2 of 2 - During his probation, Lundberg will be tracked with a GPS monitor, must stay drug free, must get a job, must register as a sex offender and will be barred from unsupervised contact with children under age 16.

Lundberg was fired from his job at the Westboro Tennis & Swim Club following his arrest. The club said at the time that no one had ever accused him of improper conduct.